The Act of Perseverance
by chewinggumandpencils
Summary: A series of connected one-shots on James asking Lily out. These take place throughout their time at Hogwarts. As true to canon as I can make it. I suck at short summaries, so you should just read it. :D
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hai guys!_

_First: disclaimer. I don't own Harry Potter, though I do own the Harry and the Potters poster over my bed._

_So, this is a new series of drabbles that I'm working on. It will basically be James asking Lily out. I will be sticking to canon as much as I possibly can._

_It's rated T just to be safe, because I can't guarantee that later stories will all be K._

_We know that James liked Lily throughout most of his time at Hogwarts. We don't know exactly when he starts liking her, so I'm going to assume he starts liking her near the end of second year and first asks her out at the end of second year. The Marauders will all be present. I'm going to assume the incident where Snape almost gets killed by Remus as a werewolf takes place third year. I'm going to assume that James and Sirius become animagi near the end of fourth year and help Peter over the summer between fourth and fifth year. These drabbles will not be in chronological order, though I will try to let you know around when each drabble takes place._

_This takes place on the last day of second year and is in Remus' POV. [:_

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><p>As a whole, I would go so far as to say that our second year was a really good year. I was sitting on my bed in the second year boys' dorm, watching my three best friends attempt to pack all their things. It was ten o'clock and the train was leaving tomorrow morning. As usual, they had left everything until the last minute, so the conversation in the room was very similar to the following.<p>

"Has anyone seen my shoe?"

"I saw it under the pack of fireworks."

"But the fireworks went off two minutes ago!"

"AHHH A SPIDER!"

"Oh, calm down Sirius, it's just a spider."

Then there is usually an explosion, followed by someone turning around and saying something along the lines of "Well, I found that pack of Exploding Snap." or "I knew we'd set a trap on one of these things." Then everyone laughs at the person afflicted. Then all of this repeats in some form.

This has been going on for several hours.

All this time, I'd been attempting to read, which is rather difficult when you live with the Marauders. It also doesn't help that I am a Marauder, meaning that I occasionally have to send a spell at one of the things my friends is packing, thus sparking one of the reactions mentioned earlier.

Finally, James stood up and announced: "I'm hungry."

"Congratulations, mate." Sirius replied.

"Let's go down to the kitchens."

"As much as I want to," squeaked Peter, "I'm only halfway done packing."

James turned to Sirius. "Kitchens, Sirius? We can talk the house elves into giving us some butterbeer."

Sirius seemed to contemplate that, but eventually said, "Nah, can't. I only just found my shoe. I still have to find the other one. Well, the other one and the rest of my stuff."

I dreaded what was coming next. James turned to me. He started to open his mouth when I said, "No, I'm trying to read this, thank you. Besides, someone needs to make sure these two don't blow up our entire room. I'm sure you are capable of sneaking down to the kitchens on your own. You've got the cloak, anyway."

"See, I am capable of sneaking down on my own, but it's very difficult to carry all that stuff back up without making a lot of noise. That's why I need your help, Remus." James looked over at Sirius. "By the way, we need a nickname for Remus. You're Siri-pie," Sirius grimaced at the nickname. "Peter's Petey. Now we just need one for Remus." He turned back to me. "Please? You're a Marauder. Let's maraud!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Pretty please, Remus? Otherwise I might end up inscribing all of our names into the hourglasses and getting us all detentions for a month next year…"

Sirius' eyes brightened at that and he lunged for a notebook that he had to write down prank ideas in. It seemed to be the only one of his possessions he could keep track of. He was still searching for all of his other possessions.

I sighed. James knew that he had me cornered. I didn't mind the occasional detention, but I liked to start the school year with a clean slate. I sat there, still looking down at my book for a moment, trying to think of a way out of it. Meanwhile, James and Sirius just stared at me. Peter was focused on packing. After a minute of silence on my end, I looked up, sighed again, and closed my book. James and Sirius started cheering. James immediately went to grab his invisibility cloak as I put my book aside and stood up. Sirius immediately started giving me instructions.

"Now, Remus, you have to make sure to ask for Twinkie, she's the one that knows all my favorite foods. Tell her Sirius sent you. Also, please work on the butterbeer. It's very important that we get butterbeer. I don't think you realize how important it is! We NEED butterbeer."

"Fine, I'll let James get it. He cares about it more than I do."

Sirius thought that over. "Good plan. Ooh, also, ask if they have cakes. I like their cakes." At that, Sirius' face grew dreamy and he stopped talking. I rolled my eyes (I seem to be doing that a lot today) and walked over to where James was standing with the invisibility cloak, getting similar instructions from Peter, except that Peter said 'please' a lot more and seemed very impressed by the fact that we were sneaking out, as if he hadn't ever snuck out with us before. I stood next to James, doing my best to look annoyed at the fact that he was making me go with him. James turned to me and grinned brightly.

"Ready?" I shook my head. James stepped a bit closer to me and then threw the invisibility cloak around the two of us.

"DON'T FORGET THE BUTTERBEER." Sirius called out to us.

"Yeah, yeah." I replied.

We walked the few steps towards the door, opened it slowly, and walked out, leaving it open behind us. The common room was empty, thankfully (it was after curfew, so we didn't want a prefect to see us sneaking out). We opened the door and walked out the portrait way, ignoring the Fat Lady's squeals. The walk to the kitchen was mostly uneventful.

We arrived in the kitchen and were swarmed by house elves as soon as we took the invisibility cloak off. James immediately went in search of butterbeer. I turned to the closest house elf.

"Hi." I said.

"Hello, mister." the house elf replied.

"I was just wondering if I could possibly get some snacks to take back with me. Well, if it's not a problem that is. We're just packing and we got hungry."

"Of course, sir! Missy will get you your snacks right away sir!"

She was about to turn away when I remembered what Sirius had told me. "Oh, Missy?"

"Yes, sir?"

"One of my friends told me to ask an elf named Twinkie about the snacks that he likes. Is she here, do you know?"

Missy squeaked. "Oh yes, sir, Missy knows Twinkie. Twinkie is Missy's friend. Missy will gets her right away, sir!"

I stood there watching as the house elves bustled about getting us food. Finally, a house elf with a pink towel came up to me.

"Missy told Twinkie that sir was looking for her. How can Twinkie help sir?"

I bent over so that I could look her in the eyes. "Hi, Twinkie. Call me Remus, ok? My friend Sirius told me that he knows you."

Twinkie smiled, "Oh yes, I knows Master Sirius well! Does Master Sirius wants food, sir Remus?"

"Yeah, Sirius told me that you are really good at making his favorite snacks. Could you possibly get me something to take up to him?"

"Oh yes, sir Remus, Twinkie will get on that." And with that, Twinkie scurried away as well. I stood there, looking around, watching all the house elves scurrying around. After a few minutes, James came back with the invisibility cloak over his arm and carrying a few open bottles of butterbeer.

"I could only find these that were already open. I don't mind though, they're mostly full. You still waiting for the food?"

"Yeah, but it looks like it's coming now." James turned to look in the direction that I was looking in. Coming our way were three trays of food, seemingly floating amongst the many heads.

Once the trays reached us, we found them to be full of food that looked really yummy. However, I wasn't sure how we were going to take all of it back upstairs, so I asked one of the house elves for bags or something that I could use to carry it up with me, which the house elves readily provided. James and I packed everything up, thanked the house elves (who all seemed delighted), and threw the invisibility cloak over ourselves.

The walk back up was mostly uneventful, though I had to stop James from kicking Filch's cat multiple times. ("No, James, you can't do that, even if she can't see you. Be quiet, James, she'll hear us! No, James, I don't care how happy it will make everyone, she'll go get Filch and since we have food it'll take us too long to get away. James! No! You'll spill all your butterbeer! Stop whining.")

Finally, we got back to Gryffindor tower. James briefly poked his head out of the invisibility cloak in order to give the password and we walked in. I had been hoping that the common room would be empty, as it was late at night and everyone would have time to hang out with their friends on the train tomorrow, but it wasn't. There was a prefect sitting in the corner, reading, and three of the second year girls were sitting in the chairs near the fire, talking. I could clearly see Lily Evans and Mary McDonald. I couldn't completely make out who the third person was, but it sounded like Marlene McKinnon. Trying to walk as quietly as I could, I kept moving. However, James didn't follow my lead. He stood there as if frozen to the spot, watching them. I noticed it just in time, because, if I had kept going, the invisibility cloak would have been pulled off of one of us.

I tried nudging James to get him to move, but it didn't work.

"Come on, James." I whispered as quietly as I could. "We have to go." I glanced over at the prefect to make sure she hadn't heard us. It seemed that she hadn't. While I was trying to get James to move, without dropping my food or spilling the butterbeer he was carrying, she got up and went up to her dormitory, making me a little less worried about being quiet. In fact, I would have just taken the invisibility cloak off if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't really want to freak out the girls and I was sure that James wouldn't want them to know about his cloak. I was on the verge of giving up on James and just waiting it out when he suddenly started moving again. However, it wasn't in the direction of the boys' dormitories.

Out of nowhere, James suddenly threw the cloak off, dropped everything, and ran forward towards the girls. Mary screamed when she saw him appear out of nowhere, causing Lily and Marlene to turn towards James. He kept going until he was standing near them and then attempted to lean casually against the couch.

"Hey Evans, will you go out with me?"

Everything was quiet for a little while and then Lily started laughing. The other girls soon joined her.

"What? What's so funny?" James asked.

Marlene managed to calm down long enough to answer him. "You're… you're covered in butterbeer, Potter!" She burst out in even more laughter.

I could barely contain my own laughter. I had to put the bags of food I was carrying down so that I could stop myself from toppling over. James was still standing there, watching as the girls all laughed at him. Finally, I decided to spare him the embarrassment, took off the invisibility cloak, and walked over to him. The girls barely noticed me, still trying to contain their own laughter.

"Come on James, now that you've spilled all of our butterbeer, let's head up to the dorm so that Sirius can get the whole killing you thing over with."

James gulped. "He really did want that butterbeer, didn't he?" I nodded. "Ok, we'll go deal with him. Hold on a second though." He turned back to the girls. Marlene was still laughing, but Mary and Lily had managed to calm themselves down enough to talk.

"So, Evans, what do you say?"

Lily's face turned serious. "Not in your wildest dreams, Potter."

"Then, how about my regular dreams?"

Lily looked annoyed at that. "You think that after what you did to Sev the other day I would go out with you? He didn't do anything to you and you dyed him pink. He's still not completely back to his normal color. Good joke, Potter." she chuckled humorlessly.

"Well, Snivellus deserved it. He was in my way."

"Get lost, Potter." Lily turned back to Mary and Marlene and rolled her eyes. James seemed frozen in place once again, so I decided to move him. Since I didn't have all the stuff in my arms this time, I managed to half-drag him over to our stuff. Once we reached the food, he managed to come to his senses enough to walk on his own, so I picked all our stuff up and we walked up to our dormitory. Right before we reached our room, James turned back to look at the girls and then looked down at his butterbeer-soaked clothes.

"Well, that was a good laugh, now wasn't it?"

"Whatever makes you feel better. Now, you're going first and you're going to explain to Sirius why exactly he won't be getting any butterbeer."

With one last look at the girls, who were still sitting by the fire, talking and laughing, he faced me and sighed.

"Once I'm dead, give Peter my secret stash of candy and give my mother and father the cloak and my love. You can have all my books. It was nice knowing you, Remy."

I grimaced at the nickname and followed him inside. Neither of us noticed the three girls looking up at us.

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><p><em>AN: Thoughts? Did you like it? Reviews make me more likely to finish the next one I'm working on and to bug my beta until she actually reads it._

_Also, credit where credit is due: I got the idea of Sirius' notebook from a story by Ellethwen Celtica (no clue if I spelled that right)._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Hey guys! Here's another drabble. This one takes place sometime in third year, on a Hogsmeade weekend._

_This one is in Lily's POV._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I wouldn't have killed off James, one of my top fictional crushes._

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><p>It was honestly a beautiful day. It was a Saturday and not just any Saturday. It was a Hogsmeade day. It had snowed yesterday, so our path was surrounded by fresh snow. The walk to Hogsmeade was exhilarating. Yes, it was cold, but Alice and I were both bundled up, so we stayed warm. Well, the heating charms I had placed on us didn't hurt either.<p>

We arrived at Hogsmeade and walked around, the streets full of Hogwarts students.

"Where do you want to go first, Lily?" Alice asked me.

That wasn't too difficult a decision, as we had plenty of time to go everywhere. "Let's go to Scrivenshaft's first, I want a new quill and I heard they got some new ones in. Then we can go get some candy." Alice smiled at me and we started walking towards Scrivenshaft's. Everything was peaceful and great.

Then we ran into the self-labeled Marauders. Of course. The four of them were running around in front of the post office for no apparent reason. They were running into other people trying to peacefully walk by, causing, well, a human traffic jam, and overall just causing chaos. Alice and I shared a look of contempt and attempted to make our way through the chaos so that we could get to Scrivenshaft's. We were almost out of the chaos when something came flying and ran into me. I took the hit hard, flying backwards and hitting the ground hard. A second later, someone landed on top of me.

My head was throbbing from hitting the ground. The person laying on top of me wasn't moving. Despite my better judgment, I opened my eyes.

James Potter's face was inches from mine.

"What are you doing?" My voice came out in a deadly whisper.

Potter shifted a bit, moving a little away from me, as if he sensed danger. "Well, you see, Remus taught us about this muggle game called tag and we were playing it and Sirius was it and I was trying to get away from him. Well, I was trying to hide and there's this great barrel over there and I, well, I ran into you?" He said it like a question, almost as if he were trying to make sure his story sounded legitimate.

"Get off of me, Potter."

"I don't know, Evans, I kind of like the view from down here."

"GET OFF OF ME!" Potter was quick to comply. He scrambled up, moving away from me. I slowly sat up, looking at all the people that had gathered around us. My head was throbbing. Hopefully I hadn't gotten a concussion. I tried to stand up, but couldn't. Alice hurried over to me and helped me stand up.

"Are you ok, Lily? Do you want to go back to Hogwarts? I can get someone to help us. We can take you to Madam Pomfrey."

I shook my head slowly, not wanting to make my head feel worse. "No, I'll be fine. Let's just keep walking."

Several people in the crowd raised up concerns, saying I shouldn't over-exert myself after that fall. I shook their concerns away.

"Thank you for your concerns, but I think I'll be fine. I promise if I feel bad that I'll head back immediately." It looked like people weren't too sure, but no one said anything. The crowd started to disperse.

And then, naturally, Potter had to speak up again. He stepped up to Alice and I and said, "Lily, I think you should head back. Just in case you're hurt. That was a really bad fall you took."

I glared at him and he took a step back. "I wouldn't have fallen if it wasn't for you, Potter, so if I were you, I would stay out of it." He nodded meekly. I turned to Alice. "Come on, Alice, let's go." We turned and kept walking, Alice holding on to my arm to make sure I didn't fall, as she was still worried. My head was still throbbing a little, but it was easily ignored. The rest of our trip to Scrivenshaft's was relatively pleasant. We spent a lot of time there, looking at all the different quills and parchments. I bought a new eagle quill.

When we were finally done at Scrivenshaft's, we headed to Honeydukes. We arrived safely at Honeydukes and spent the next 45 minutes obsessing over different types of candy. I bought a pack of sugar quills (ok, I really like quills, get over it) and Alice bought a pack of fizzing whizbees. Once we'd made our purchases, we shrunk our packages, put them in our pockets, and headed out again. However, this time, something seemed different. We walked around Hogsmeade, not having decided where to go next and we kept seeing people walking around looking scared, as if something was going to jump out at them. The Marauders were nowhere to be seen.

I decided to find out what was going on.

Thankfully, I didn't have to look too long to find out. Alice and I had walked to a clump of trees, where we found Remus hidden in the shadow. He was playing with the snow, something I would not have expected scholarly Remus to do. As soon as he saw our shadows, he jumped and grabbed a handful of snow. Then he realized who it was.

"Oh. Lily. Alice. Hello." He put the snow down and looked up at us.

"What are you doing, Remus?" I asked.

"Well, Sirius and James organized a snowball fight. The four of us and some of the fourth and fifth years versus everyone else. It starts in half an hour. We're all setting up our battle stations right now."

That made sense. That's why everyone was so jumpy. They all thought they were going to start getting pelted by snowballs.

Alice and I shared a look and then Alice turned back to Remus. "So, basically, we have half an hour before you start pelting us with snowballs?"

Remus looked sheepish.

"Well… Yeah, basically. I would stay inside for a while if I was you, since I doubt you guys want to get involved in that. I can't guarantee that the pathway back to Hogwarts will be safe. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that Sirius was in charge of the path back, so…"

"Yeah, I don't think we'll take our chances then. Thank you for the warning, Remus." I replied and smiled warmly at him. "Come on, Alice, we better figure out where we're going then." Alice and I said our goodbyes to Remus and wandered off again.

After twenty minutes of walking around, watching everyone look scared, and finding the "battle stations" that Peter and some of the fourth and fifth years had made, we finally decided to go to the Three Broomsticks. That meant we had to walk about halfway across town. We knew we were cutting it a bit close, but we ran and made it about five minutes before the snowball fight was set to begin.

We got some butterbeer, found a booth, and settled down. It was nice and warm in the Three Broomsticks, so we took off our coats and undid the heating charms. We started talking about school, life, basically everything. Eventually, the topic of Severus came up, as it had a tendency to.

"Lily, I worry about you. I don't think that he's a good person."

"Alice, thank you for your concern, but I have known Sev for years and he's always been a good person."

Alice chewed on her lip apprehensively. "But, Lily, didn't you hear about what happened last week? I thought Mary told you."

I looked at Alice warily. "No, I didn't hear about anything. What happened?"

Alice looked as if she was trying to decide if I should know. "Well, if Mary didn't tell you, I'm not sure if I should be the one telling you…" I guess the look on my face was urgent enough, because she continued. "Ok, fine. Well, a bunch of Slytherins cornered Mary and that Ravenclaw girl in our year Abigail. They didn't really do anything, but they called them a lot of really mean names. Mary said that Snape was there too."

"Was he calling her names too?"

"Well, no, which I guess is why she didn't tell you, but I still don't think you should hang around him. He's part of a bad crowd."

I thought about what she was telling me, not wanting to believe it. "I'll think about it, ok, Alice?"

Alice didn't look satisfied, but left it at that. We changed the topic. Our conversation carried on for a while, changing topics a few more times. We had been in the Three Broomsticks for almost an hour when Sev walked in and walked up to us. Alice and I looked up at his arrival.

"Hello, Lily." Sev only nodded to Alice, "Can I join you?"

I glanced at Alice, who was frowning, but nodded. I moved over to give him room to sit. The three of us sat there awkwardly for a moment in silence. Finally, Alice, trying to break the awkwardness, said,

"I wonder if the Marauders are still out there having a snowball fight."

"Oh yes, they most certainly are. I was only recently hit by five snowballs on my way here. Those imbeciles, specifically that Potter, kept throwing them at me."

"Oh, are they all in the same area now?" I asked.

Sev nodded. "Those morons are just trying to cause trouble. Marauders, indeed. Where did that stupid name come from anyway?" he asked.

"I asked Remus that a few days ago." Alice said, "He told me that a few months into first year, McGonagall called them that when she caught them sneaking to the kitchens."

Sev shook his head in disgust. "I bet they didn't even get in trouble. Something's wrong with them, that Lupin especially."

"Sev, you know how I feel about you talking about them. I may not like them, but going that far is too much. Now is not the time to discuss your theories, especially with so many people around."

Sev looked a bit alarmed. I guess my tone had been a bit harsh. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that, Lily, but you know that they're always getting in trouble and they're so arrogant and…" I cut him off.

"I'd rather not talk about them. Especially not Potter, the most arrogant of them all. Ok, Sev?"

The conversation carried on awkwardly for a while more, with Alice eternally having to change the topic. After about seven minutes of this, a group of Slytherins came over to our table.

"Hey, Snape, we were looking for you."

"Oh. Hello. Yeah, I was just talking to them. Lily, these are some of my friends."

Most of the Slytherins looked at me with contempt. One of the ones in the back said,

"Why would you need to talk to them?"

Sev gave the one who spoke a look that I couldn't quite understand. I could, however, understand Alice's quite clearly. She was telling me 'I told you so' quite clearly through her expression.

I decided that it was time for Alice and I to leave.

"Well, Sev, Alice and I really have to go." I tried to think of an excuse, one that would get us away from these mean-looking Slytherins, "I still have to go to Scrivenshaft's to buy some new supplies." The three of us stood up, Sev moving out of the booth to let me out as well as moving some of his friends out of my way. I waved goodbye to Sev and headed towards the door with Alice. Right as we were about to leave, though, Alice stopped me.

"Wait, Lily. Do you really think it's safe out there if the Marauders are still having a snowball fight?"

Right. The snowball fight. I'd completely forgotten.

"Well, I don't think Sev's friends want me around, so I think it would be best to take a chance. Besides, Sev said that the fight was mostly in one area now, so we might be able to get around it."

I could tell that Alice wanted to comment on Sev's friends, but she knew better than to bring it up right now. We walked out.

After a brief discussion in the (snowball free) area by the Three Broomsticks, we decided on our course of action. We then went on to follow it, keeping an eye out for the Marauders. After visiting Zonko's (which surprised some people there who thought I hated jokes, when, in reality, I just hate mean jokes), Dervish and Banges, and the post office (I sent a letter home), we decided it was probably time to head back to Hogwarts.

As we were walking towards the pathway back, we noticed a lot of activity around the area where the road to Hogwarts really starts. Alice and I tried to figure it out, with no luck. However, as we got closer, we realized what was going on. The Marauders hadn't ended their snowball fight yet and they'd moved it to the very spot we had to cross to head back to Hogwarts. While I will admit that they looked like they were having a lot of fun, Alice and I really wanted to get back, especially since we had a girl's night planned.

After some discussion, Alice and I decided we would try to just sneak by the sides. Hopefully, they'd be distracted enough to not notice us and let us on our way.

We were almost past them when something hit me.

The next thing I know, I'm waking up in the hospital wing. I regained consciousness slowly, first realizing that I was lying down and that I was warm. I tried to remember how I'd gotten there, with no luck. The last thing I could remember was heading back to Hogwarts with Alice. Little by little, I opened my eyes to see Alice sitting next to me. I was in the hospital wing.

"What's going on?" I asked softly.

Alice jumped. "Oh, Lily, you're awake. Thank Merlin. I thought you were dead."

Madam Pomfrey, the new, young nurse, came over. "I told you, dear, she wasn't dead. Just unconscious. Now, how are you feeling, dear?" Madam Pomfrey spent a few minutes fussing over me. Finally, she said,

"You're going to have to stay here for a while, dear. I'm afraid you have a pretty bad concussion, both from your fall and from the hit. I want you to rest. I'm going to be in the other room. Just call me if you need anything." With that, she walked away, leaving me very confused.

So, I turned to Alice for answers.

"What happened? How did I end up in the hospital wing?"

"How much do you remember?" Alice asked me.

I thought about it, sitting up slowly. "The last thing I remember is you and I walking back to Hogwarts. We were trying to get past the snowball fi…" I trailed off, the pieces clicking together. "THOSE STUPID MARAUDERS. WHAT DID THEY DO TO ME?"

"Calm down, Lily. Remember, you have a concussion."

"What. Did. They. Do. To. Me?" I asked forcefully.

"Well, Potter threw a snowball at you and it knocked you out. Madam Pomfrey said that, combined with the fall you took earlier yesterday, was a bad combination."

"YESTERDAY? I'VE BEEN OUT FOR A WHOLE DAY? I SWEAR, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON JAMES BLOODY POTTER, HE'LL KNOW WELL ENOUGH NOT TO THROW A BLOODY SNOWBALL AT ME WHEN I'M NOT EVEN PART OF THE SNOWBALL FIGHT." I went on like this for another few minutes. Eventually I managed to calm down enough to think about it sensibly.

"A snowball. Merlin, that stupid snowball. Wait. Alice, how on earth did a bloody snowball knock me out? I can't see the Marauders putting ice in their snowballs, not if they're throwing them at each other. Merlin, is it that easy to knock me out?"

"Your head was already a little sensitive from the fall, according to Madam Pomfrey, and, while there wasn't any ice in the snowball, there was something else."

I put my face in my hands. "Oh, Merlin, what did that idiot throw at me?"

Alice held her hand out. "This." I peeked out from between my fingers. On her hand was a small box, one that just covered her hand. It was beautiful. I reached over and picked it up carefully. It was a small wooden box, intricately carved with lilies. While that is more than a little cliché, the box was beautiful. I slowly opened it. Music started playing, songs I'd never heard before, purely instrumental. I would say they reminded me of Mozart. The music was coming from the box, but there was nothing to wind up or anything. It took me a moment to remember that not all music boxes had to be muggle music boxes and that it was more than likely magical.

"Wow." I said in a hushed voice. "It's beautiful." Alice nodded. As I continued examining it, I realized that there was a note in the box. I pulled out the note, set the box down on my lap (opened, so it was still playing music), and read the note. I immediately groaned.

"What does it say? I didn't want to read it." said Alice.

"Dearest Lily," I read, "I'm really sorry for making you fall earlier. I hope you're ok. Sincerely, James. P.S. Will you go out with me?" I groaned again, looking at Alice.

"You must admit, that wasn't too bad of a note until he decided to ask you out."

I looked down at the box. The beautiful box. I closed the lid, stopping the music, looking at the lilies. "What should I do, Alice? This box is beautiful and amazing, but if I keep it, Potter might think I'll go out with him."

"Why don't you just go out with him once?"

"Because he's an arrogant toe rag who thinks hurting others is fun and has a total disregard for the rules and is always in trouble. I don't need to inflate his ego anymore by going out with him just to keep this box."

"Why don't you just keep it, then, and not go out with him?"

"I don't want Potter to think he has a chance by keeping it. Especially not after everything he did to me that made me end up here."

"Hey, I did apologize for making you fall. In fact, I believe I even apologized twice." Alice and I turned towards Potter, who was standing about ten feet away from my bed.

"Potter. What are you doing here?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Easy, Evans." he said, coming closer and sitting in the chair next to my bed, "I just came to make sure you were ok."

"How long have you been standing there?" I demanded.

Potter smirked. "Long enough to know that you love the music box."

"Ok, I believe that's my cue to leave. Have fun with Lily yelling at you. Make sure she doesn't get too overexcited, since she does have a bad concussion. Bye! I'll come back later, Lily, with some homework. Be nice!" Alice walked away. I waved feebly. Once Alice was gone, I crossed my arms, turning my full attention to glaring at Potter.

"So are you ok?" Potter asked softly.

"I have a concussion and am being kept in the hospital wing for a while. How do you think I am?" I snapped back.

"I am sorry about the snowball thing. I didn't think it would knock you out."

"You threw a bloody music box at me and you didn't think it would knock me out? How idiotic are you, Potter?"

Potter looked sheepish. "Well, it was a magic music box. I thought it wouldn't hurt…"

"HOW ON EARTH WOULD IT BEING MAGIC WOULD STOP IT FROM HAVING MASS AND HURTING?"

"I guess I wasn't thinking. I was just thinking about getting it to you, I guess."

"IT WAS IDIOTIC, POTTER. I COULD HAVE DIED." Ok, so I might be exaggerating a little, but waking up in the hospital wing isn't the best thing to get me in a good mood. I softened a little at his expression, one that almost reminded me of a puppy dog. I sighed in exasperation and turned away from him, instead looking at the cards next to my bed.

"I really am sorry, Lily." His voice was so quiet, I could barely hear him. "I was so worried once you fell down. I carried you all the way back here. I was so scared that I'd hurt you." I glanced at Potter over my shoulder. He really did seem worried. "I just want to make sure you're ok, Lily."

While still looking at the cards, I replied, "I just have a concussion. I should be fine soon. Healers can fix almost anything."

"I'm glad you're ok." We sat there in silence for a bit, the music box weighing more on my mind than my lap.

"Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you forgive me? For the fall? For the snowball? For everything?"

I sighed slightly. "Yeah. I forgive you, Potter." There was a pause. "I'm still not going to go out with you."

Potter laughed. "I was just about to ask."

"Only in your dreams, Potter."

"Well, I'll see you tonight then, Evans." I didn't have to look at him to see that he was smirking. He got up and started walking away.

"Hey, James." He turned, looking surprised. I held out the music box. "Here."

James looked at it for a moment and then looked at me. "Keep it." he said.

"But…"

"I know that you said no, Lily. But I want you to keep it."

"Are you sure? I mean…"

"It's yours, Lily. Enjoy."

And, with that, he walked off, leaving me holding the music box, watching as he left the room.

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><p><em>AN: What did you think? Do you like it? I hope you like it. If you have any prompts you want me to follow/an idea for how James would ask Lily out, leave them in a review! It would help me post faster. Reviews in general help me post faster, actually... :D_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Hey guys! So, this one was inspired by a prompt from jessielightyear. [: It takes place in fourth year and is in James' POV. You might notice that Remus is the only one who has their legit nickname, but that's because they haven't successfully become animagi yet._

_This one is shorter than the other ones, but what I wrote was really all I felt was needed._

_As per usual, I own not this fandom. Queen Rowling pwns all. I have not yet acquired the "pwn-all" skill and most likely shall not. And if I do, I still won't own it. Capiche? _

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><p>Now, I will be the first to admit that our dorm room is typically an odd sight. Living with the Marauders wasn't something most people could deal with. There was usually something weird going on or some banned item lying around. However, I can easily see how today's scene would be considered very odd, even for us.<p>

It was 9 o'clock at night and Sirius and I were standing in the middle of the room in our underwear.

You would think that there would be other people there at this time, but Peter was in detention and Moony was in the library doing homework. So, there we were, standing around in our underwear. To be honest, I wasn't really sure why we had to be in only our underwear, but Sirius had insisted it would help.

And, as if the scene wasn't weird enough, Sirius was reading. There's some people who don't even know he CAN read, yet there he was, reading. We had a bunch of books scattered around us as well, open to pages we thought would help us.

"Sirius, would you mind explaining to me exactly why we're in our underwear?"

Sirius looked up from the book he was leafing through. "I told you, Jamesie-dear, I read somewhere in a book that it's easier to transform if you're in your underwear."

"Wait, so we'll always have to be in our underwear to transform? That would get a bit annoying…"

Sirius frowned at that. "True. We can have Peter check the book I found it in. Maybe it's only the first few times. Ok, let's try this again. Point your wand at yourself and try it."

I did as he said, but nothing happened. I tried a few more times, failing each time. "You try it, Sirius. I promise to change you back if you accidentally transfigure yourself into a random animal again. Remember, transfiguration is different than being an animagi."

Sirius glared at me. "You better. Last time I was stuck as a duck for four hours! I still haven't forgiven you for that, you know." I laughed his comment off, waving at him to go.

Once Sirius had tried a few times (and failed), we both started looking through the books around us to see if there was anything that would help us. We kept trying giving each other advice as we found it ("Maybe try waving your wand around.", "Try to picture yourself as an animal.", "Don't forget to floss. Wait, this isn't a book about animagi!") Finally, after about fifteen more failed attempts, I spoke up.

"I feel completely ridiculous."

"You look it too."

I scoffed. "As if you look any better."

"Of course I do. I'm only the most attractive male in all of Hogwarts."

I decided to not crush his dreams (since that title obviously belongs to me), picked up one of the books next to me, and started looking through it. "Keep telling yourself that, Siri-pie. Hey, it says here that it might help if a friend says the spell. Apparently it'll help you figure out your animal."

Sirius looked apprehensive, but pointed his wand at me. "Ok, well, I'll transform you first."

"Oh, no. That's not going to happen." I pointed my wand at him too. "You're going first. That way I don't have to worry about you not turning me back."

"Bring it!" Sirius yelled. Both of us started preparing ourselves. We stalked around the room until we were lined up parallel to the door (It was a Marauder agreement that any duel would take place like that so that no one coming in would get hit by spells.). We were right on the verge of saying the spell when Moony walked in. However, he wasn't alone. Right behind him was Lily Evans, the girl of my dreams. Figures.

I turned to face them. Sirius was seemingly frozen in place. Lily's face was red and she was working really hard to not look at me or Sirius.

"Well, Remus," she said, "it looks like I should have waited in the common room. Admittedly, my reasoning was that one of those two idiots would infuriate me, but this is pretty bad too."

Remus took in the sight and shook his head. "Why can I not ever walk in to a normal scene?" he sighed, "Now, why on earth are you two dueling in your underwear? Please tell me you aren't trying to make 'strip dueling' a thing again. I told you guys it will never catch on."

That made Sirius and I realize how just how bad this situation was. Not only were we standing around in our underwear, but all the animagi books were lying around, open, just waiting to be read. Remus knows we don't usually read! This was bad!

"Oh, yeah, right, that's what we're doing. We thought we would figure out just how it works before we introduce it to the public and all, you know." Sirius stammered his way through that excuse while running around grabbing all the books and throwing them on Peter's bed.

I stood there, staring at Lily. Despite refusing to look at us, Lily seemed to realize that I was staring because she glanced over and glared at me.

"Stop staring, Potter. It's rude." I could hear the annoyance in her voice.

Sirius stopped picking up the books and turned to Lily, smiling.

"Well, then, flower-dear, wh -"

Lily interrupted him. "Don't call me that, Black."

Sirius ignored her comment and continued. "Why are you here if not to be stared at by us? Are you and Moony going to have some fun?" he said with a wink.

Lily finally got over her embarrassment and looked Sirius in the eye, glaring at him. "WHAT? YOU THINK THAT'S WHY I CAME UP HERE?" she pulled her wand out and pointed it at Sirius, "JUST BECAUSE I ACTUALLY TALK TO ONE OF YOU MAKES YOU THINK… THAT? YOU SICK MINDED PERSON!" Sirius threw his hands up in surrender, letting the books fall to the ground.

Moony looked as shocked as Lily, though without the anger. "Sirius, is that really all you think about? Lily and I study together. That's it." He shook his head in disgust.

"Ok, Evans, put that wand down before you hurt someone. Namely, me. I'd rather not get scars, I've heard they drive off about half of all women." Moony nodded to Lily and she reluctantly put her wand down. "Now then," Sirius continued, "why did you come up here?"

"If you truly need to know, Remus and I were studying and he mentioned that he has a book I've been wanting to read. I asked to borrow it and he told me to come up with him to get it."

"Oh." Sirius looked highly disappointed and shot a pitiful look at me. However, I barely noticed it, since I was still too busy staring at Lily. Moony walked over to his bed and started searching for the book.

"Here it is." Moony stood up with a book in his hand. He walked back over to Lily and handed her the book. "Let's go finish studying for that potions exam tomorrow." He turned back to me and Sirius. "You two, put some clothes on before I get back, will you?" I shrugged noncommittally. Moony sighed and turned back to Lily. "Let's let these two duel in their underwear like the idiots they are."

The two of them turned to leave when, of course, I had to open my mouth.

"Wait! Evans!" The two of them stopped and turned to face me, Lily's face full of annoyance.

"What do you want, Potter?"

I tried to think of a clever line, something funny and cute.

"Will you go out with me?" Oh, smooth Potter, choose the completely overused line.

Lily immediately opened her mouth to reply, but stopped. A small smile graced her face. Could I possibly have a chance? I leaned forward a little, anxious to hear her answer. She actually looked happy that I'd asked her out! Maybe she'll say yes this time!

"Please, Potter, stop lying to yourself."

"What?" The word slipped out of my mouth, my confusion evident on my face.

The smile on Lily's face grew into a satisfied smirk as she replied.

"It's obvious by your little display here that you're gay. It's ok. You and Sirius can have all the fun you want. But I will never go out with you, even if it's just to help you stay in the closet. Don't worry, I won't tell." She winked at me, waved at Sirius, turned around, and started walking out.

For a second everything was silent as we processed what she had said. Right as she reached the door, the room exploded with noise.

Moony's hysterical laughter was almost lost under Sirius' yells.

"HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY MASCULINITY? I'M MORE OF A MAN THAN ANY OF THESE OTHER LOSERS! GET BACK HERE, EVANS! HOW DARE YOU?"

Sirius' yells only caused Moony to laugh harder. He was laughing so hard he had to lean against the door frame to support himself.

I was left standing in the middle of our dorm room in my underwear, watching her walk away.

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><p><em>AN: What did you guys think? Reviews make me happy! Also, if you have any prompt ideas for the next one, I would love to hear them!_

_For those of you who are waiting on a new Speak Now one-shot, I'm working on it! _


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